

SPECIES 4. FJ1LCO LEUCOCEPHALUS. 

 WHITE-HEADED OR BALD EAGLE.* 



[Plate XXXVI. Female.] 



LINN. Syst. 124. LATH, i, 29. Le'pygargue a tete blanche, 

 BUFF, i, 99.pl. enl. 41 1. Arct. Zool. 196, JVo. 89. Bald Eagle, 

 CATESB. i, 1. PEALE'S Museum, JVo. 78.t 



THIS distinguished bird, as he is the most beautiful of his 

 tribe in this part of the world, and the adopted emblem of our 

 country, is entitled to particular notice. He is represented, in 

 the plate, of one-third his natural size, and was drawn from 

 one of the largest and most perfect specimens I have yet met 

 with. In the back ground is seen a distant view of the celebra- 

 ted cataract of Niagara, a noted place of resort for these birds, 

 as well on account of the fish procured there, as for the nume- 

 rous carcasses of squirrels, deer, bear and various other animals, 

 that, in their attempts to cross the river, above the falls, have 

 been dragged into the current, and precipitated down that tre- 

 mendous gulf; where among the rocks that bound the rapids 

 below, they furnish a rich repast for the Vulture, the Raven, 

 and the Bald Eagle, the subject of the present account. 



This bird has been long known to naturalists, being common 

 to both continents; and occasionally met with from a very high 



* The epithet bald, applied to this species, whose head is thickly covered 

 with feathers, is equally improper and absurd with the titles Goatsucker, 

 Kingsfisher, &c. bestowed on others; and seems to have been occasioned by 

 the white appearance of the head, when contrasted with the dark colour of 

 the rest of the plumage. The appellation, however, being now almost univer- 

 sal is retained in the following pages. 



t We add the following synonymes. Falco Leucocephalus, GMBI. Syst. i, 

 p. 255. LATH. Ind. Orn. p. 11. J&gU d tete blanche, TEMM. Man. d* Orn. 

 p. 52. L'JUgle pygargue, VIEILLOT, Ois. de 1'Am. Sept. i, p. 27, pi. 3. 



